Meet a Man
Meet a Man Who Wrote His First Book at Age 81
Armchair Interviews says: We asked Desmond, a Brit, to write about why he waited so long—or in truth, why he never gave up on his dream of writing books.
By Desmond Evans
Desmond is the author of Death is a Member, released 2007. His next, Murder in the Ascendant, is scheduled for January 2008, and When the Hammer Falls, July 2008. Desmond and his wife live in Shropshire. England.
What prompted me to start writing at the age of 81?
I have no definitive answer. I believe I have a vivid Imagination and am good at telling stories. Anyway, that’s what my family constantly reminds me. If I relate an event, my version is usually more colourful than the event itself, but without altering the facts. I embellish things a little. I think all storytellers have vivid imaginations.
Why start so late? Earning a living to support a family doesn’t leave much time to write. After our two children left to get married, my wife and I bought a Residential caravan. Our Caravan was a large one a bit ancient but served its purpose well. It had to be towed to the site where we renovated our Walnut Cottage. Not quite so luxurious as your mobile Homes one sees on TV. Then we set about renovating a 15th Century cottage ourselves, taking many years to complete the project, doing everything except the roof thatching.
As a point of interest, in our renovations we found many coins from the 16th & 17th. Century. We put them all back on top of old Oak Beams with our modern-day coins, so perhaps in another three or four hundred years, when its renovated again some one will find them and compare them with their future modern coins—or will they all be plastic cards then?
When we were our late 70s, we moved here to Much Wenlock Shropshire. Now I had time to watch TV–the detective stories with gross gratuitous violence, boozing detectives, car chases, naked women in compromising situations and very little story content–so I switched off the TV.
Only two good series enthralled me, the first was PD James’ character, Adam Dalgleish, and of course, Colin Dexter’s Inspector Morse. Both are thinking detectives who carried you along in their investigations, without the graphic violence–and they always held you in suspense.
That’s what I wanted to do, and this challenge brought to the surface a compulsion to write. My family encouraged me to write a trilogy. As soon as I started my first mystery, A Course for Investigation, I was hooked. My wife suggested Death is a Member, a better title, and the publishers agreed.
A few years ago in between moving houses, I had scribbled a few notes about a murder on a golf course, and when I found the notes later, I used them as the basis for that first book. I used to play golf a little.
It was essential I had two main characters. I steered away from the conventional older man as the senior detective. I chose the name Jim Langton as my Detective Chief Inspector and his associate, a much older man, Sgt. Harry Mills. British police have this protocol of calling their subordinates by their surname. I decided against it. Langton respects his elder associate and uses his Christian name. A close bond develops throughout the trilogy of “Langton Investigates” books.
Writing crime novels is dependent on a writer’s imagination. He has nothing really tangible, and it’s all in and from the mind. The experiences throughout his life must surface at sometime or other. In my first book, a golf course is the location, and my second, Murder in the Ascendant, now completed and at the publishers, includes a psychic because I had been interested in researching that subject. My third book, well on its way, When the Hammer Falls, is about auctions–a passion my wife and I share.
Clarification: It is a gavel that is used, and that is the normal term, however, in England when the auctioneer is in full flow, he often reminds people to shout up and make sure their bid is seen as once “the hammer falls,” the item has gone. In the story, without giving secrets away, once the hammer falls in this auction, a trail of murder and suspense follows. So in this instance, hammer is correct.
Imagination, life’s experiences, and a compulsion to write have been my driving force to being an author. Does age make any difference? Of course it does. Retirement gives you time–age the experience!